Peacemaking Opportunities
JOSHUA FARM IS LOCAL PROJECT
Growing up, Kirsten Reinford always wanted to be a farmer. Later, as a young adult, she felt the Lord calling her to full-time mission work, and began researching needy places around the world. Then she realized the mission was right in her own back yard!
Kirsten is the manager of Joshua Farm, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in the heart of Harrisburg, between Mulberry and Holly Streets. It was begun in 2006 to provide employment and service-learning to at-risk youth, and to offer affordable organic produce to an urban, low-income neighborhood. Pine Street’s Mission Committee has chosen this unique program to receive the locally-retained portion of our 2008 Peacemaking Offering.
Three Mission Committee members visited Kirsten in July, meeting her on the 1/3 acre plot which grows vegetables ranging from arugula to zucchini, in tidy, perfectly weeded rows, on land owned by the Harrisburg School District and currently vacant. Kirsten walks across her backyard to the farm, from the home where she lives with
her husband, a social worker, and their two preschool program. As we talked, her daughter played in the good soil as a neighborhood woman weeded nearby.
This year six youth worked at Joshua Farm, four mornings a week, learning all aspects of growing and marketing. Thirty-two households bought shares to receive weekly produce
and more than 150 students came for service-learning experiences. A farm-stand sells vegetables and flowers every Thursday, June through September. The produce is accessible to lower-income folks because (1) the CSA shares are less expensive that others such as Spiral Path, (2) people can work in the garden and receive credit toward the food, and (3) discounts are given to all within walking distance.
Joshua Farm is the newest arm of Joshua Group, a non-profit program begun in 1998,
with the goal of rescuing the future of street kids in the Allison Hill neighborhood through education and vocational opportunities. It includes an intensive after-school tutoring/mentoring program called J-Crew, counseling at all levels, transitional housing
opportunities, and optional educational placements when needed. Kirk Hallett is the founder and director.
"Break the Bread of New Creation" is the theme of this year’s Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. It is based on the Scripture passage of Jesus walking with the pilgrims to Emmaus and making himself known in the breaking of the bread. Seeking to offer Christ’s peace to a suffering world, the offering is divided with 25% to a chosen local project, 25% to Synod and Presbytery peacemaking causes, and 50% to General Assembly ministries.
Kirsten Reinford will present the Focus on Mission talks at both worship services September 28, and will be available afterwards in the Gathering Place for conversation and questions. The Peacemaking Offering will be received Sunday, October 5, traditionally World Communion Sunday. Please give as generously as you are able.
SYNOD PEACEMAKING PROGRAMS
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Peacemaking Partnership Project and Program Grants Funding available throughout the year
The Peacemaking Ministries Network exists to partner with peacemaking efforts and assist presbyteries across the Synod with their ministries. The network has funds available to help finance peacemaking projects and programs developed by congregations or presbyteries. Normally projects will be funded only once. Each project will be expected to complete a project proposal form and budget prior to funding and report back to the network following the event with an evaluation of the project and an accounting of income and expenditures. Information about these grants, and the application form to use in applying, may be obtained by contacting the network office. "Do everything possible on your part to
--Romans 12:18 Peacemaking Travel Scholarships Deadline: May 15 each year
Peacemaking Travel Grant (to annual PCUSA Peacemaking Conference) Each year the network awards a limited number of scholarships to persons interested in attending the annual PCUSA peacemaking conference. The funds provided must be used strictly for the expense incurred for travel to and from the conference. Andrew E. Murray Travel Scholarship Fund In order to honor the memory of one of its former moderators, Andrew E. Murray, the Synod Peacemaking Ministries established a travel scholarship fund in his name in 1992. The fund's purpose is to provide scholarship grants to ministers and members of Presbyterian churches within the Synod of the Trinity who are planning to travel to countries of the former Soviet Union as part of a peacemaking mission or project. As a condition of receiving either of these travel grants, recipients are expected to provide the network with a report and photos of their trip and be available to visit interested presbyteries and churches in the Synod of the Trinity to share the story of their experiences and how the trip impacted them and their faith. Andrew E. Murray Peacemaking Award Deadline: July 1 each year
The Peacemaking Ministries Network annually acknowledges a peacemaking endeavor from each presbytery in the Synod with the Andrew E. Murray Peacemaking Award, given in honor and memory of one of its former moderators. The award recipients are publicly recognized and receive a framed certificate and a $500 cash award. Each presbytery is encouraged to submit one nomination to the network that exemplifies the peacemaking Christ calls us to do. The nomination should be based on creativity, purpose, variety, and perseverance, despite obstacles and/or outcome of the Peacemaking endeavor. Please include the following information: ^ The full name and address of the project. ^ The Presbytery and the specific committee of the Presbytery that made the nomination, along with the committee chair's name and contact information. ^ A detailed narrative describing the purpose, implementation, concept, effort to date, and/or accomplishments. (Please, no lists) ^ Name, address, phone number, and e-mail of a contact person who can answer questions and will accept the award. PEACEMAKING MINISTRIES NETWORK of the Synod of the Trinity
PEACE is my gift to you. It is my own PEACE that I leave with you. -John 14:27 PROGRAMS OF
"Peacemaking is the believer's calling," Peacemaking is a crucial part of our Christian faith that Christ calls us to do. The shalom of God as articulated in the Old Testament and as personified in Jesus Christ is crucial and indispensable in the tumultuous and uncertain times in which we live. "See? I am doing a new thing." The Peacemaking Ministries Network was created out of the Synod's 2004 restructure. Since then, networking has been the way of engaging in peacemaking ministries, mission, and programs across the Synod of the Trinity. The network takes seriously its commitment to peacemaking and desires to work in partnership with presbyteries to further peace efforts, projects, and programs within the Synod. PEACEMAKING MINISTRIES NETWORK of the Synod of the Trinity Bobbie Kitzmiller, Chairperson 717-774-3824 /e-mail: bobbie35@ localnet.comoffice: 2654 Danielle Drive, Dover, PA 17315 c/o Zoe Bordes, Network Enabler 717-873-3038 /e-mail: peacesoon@mail.com
The Peacemaking Ministries Network provides: Partnerships with presbytery ~ Andrew E. Murray Peacemaking Award ~ Andrew E. Murray Travel Scholarship Fund ~ Travel Scholarships ~ Grants for Peacemaking Projects & Programs More information on the Peacemaking Ministries Network and what it offers, including application forms for grants, is available on the Synod website: www.syntrinity.org. or bye-mailing or calling the peacemaking office. Form NP-1 (Rev. 1-07) |
